14 Hope Street

Twenty-three residences sit on floors two through five over a ground floor of community-facility space and a cellar garage. Floors two through four each hold six apartments (A through F), and the fifth floor holds five penthouses. Department of Finance unit areas run from about 735 square feet for the smaller one-bedrooms to about 1,270 for the largest two-bedrooms. Units 2A, 2B, 2E and 2F and penthouses PHB through PHE have private terraces, per the offering plan.

The cabanas. Seven small cabana units, about 260 to 390 square feet each, sit on the roof for recreational use. Each is a separate deeded condominium unit. The offering plan restricts them to residential owners and requires that a cabana be transferred to another residential owner when its apartment is sold. In 2019 the board of managers bought four of the seven from the sponsor, so the board now holds them as common assets.

Parking and storage. The cellar holds 18 garage units and 30 storage units, each separately tax-lotted. The sponsor kept one garage space, the building's accessible space, and leases it rather than selling it, per the offering plan. Most apartments were sold with a storage unit and many with a garage space. As with the cabanas, check the deed rather than the listing.

The ground floor. Two community-facility units of about 4,520 square feet each have their own street entrances. The offering plan restricts them to community-facility uses such as schools, houses of worship, colleges and hospitals. Under the budget they contribute only a small share of certain shared expenses. One remains with an affiliate of the sponsor.

The 421-a clock. The Department of Finance exemption roll records 421-a code 5114 on all 80 lots, with a 25-year term, benefit start 2011, base year 2006, at full value on the fiscal 2027 roll. The offering plan says the benefit will "decrease progressively." On the statutory 25-year schedule, the full exemption runs 21 years and then steps down 20 percent a year over the last four. For this building that means full value through about fiscal 2031, a step-down across fiscal 2032–2035, and full taxes from about fiscal 2036 (July 2035). The documents we reviewed do not explain why this building qualified for the 25-year term rather than a shorter one, and we found no affordable-unit requirement. Confirm the schedule against the current bill. The step-up at the end is large, because the exemption is covering almost the entire assessment.

Reserves are thin. The 2018 audited financial statements on file show a restricted reserve fund of about $136,000. They also note that nothing was added to reserves in 2017 or 2018 because of unexpected operating costs, and that no reserve study had been done. The 2020 approved budget includes a reserve line. Ask for the current figure.

Post-construction repairs were settled. The audited statements record that a 2011 engineer's report identified repair needs, and that the condominium reached a settlement with the sponsor in 2019. The amount was modest, and the 2020 budget records building improvement spending in the same period. Ask the managing agent what the settlement covered and what work, if any, remains.

Staffing is light by design. There is no full-time staff. A part-time superintendent visits about 30 hours a week, per the offering plan. That staffing schedule is one budget input; compare actual common charges, reserves and assessments before concluding that costs are low. It also means package handling, access and after-hours issues work differently than they do in a doorman building.

Sponsor position. All 23 apartments sold between 2009 and 2011. An affiliate of the sponsor still holds one community-facility unit and two garage units, per the Department of Finance roll. No sponsor-held residences remain.

Recent sales

Recent closings at this building, from The Roebling Research Library. Prices are the transfer amounts recorded with the NYC Department of Finance; apartment-level detail is checked against the building’s own file in The Roebling Research Library before publishing.

Market read. Most recent trades (2025) cleared a median $1,405/sf (floor-adjusted) across 2 sales. Floor-adjusted means each sale is restated to a constant mix of floors, so the figure can differ from the plain median of the sales listed above. Median listing discount 0.4% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 3-02383-7503; each condominium apartment is its own tax lot). Apartment-level facts (line, condition, asking-price context) curated and cross-verified in The Roebling Research Library. Not all transactions cross-verify with ACRIS records — sponsor and LLC purchases sometimes record at stipulated values rather than market price; square footage from recorded condo declarations and offering plans.

Model the whole tax clock. Today's bill reflects a nearly full exemption. Run True Monthly Carrying Cost at today's number and at the fully taxed number that arrives around fiscal 2036. Consider when you expect to sell.

Check the deed for every lot. Apartment, garage space, storage unit and cabana are separate units with separate tax lots. Confirm which ones the contract conveys.

Ask for the current reserve and budget. The 2018 reserve was modest and had not been funded for two years. A buyer's attorney should see current financials and any planned assessment.

Understand the staffing. There is no doorman and no full-time superintendent.

Get the leasing and pet terms in writing. The documents on file establish the right of first refusal and the transient-use ban. The minimum lease term and a general pet policy were not found.

Sell the abatement with dates. Buyers will discount a benefit they don't understand. Show the current bill, the schedule, and the year full taxes arrive.

Price the accessory units separately. A garage space, a storage unit and a cabana each have value. Showing each one makes the apartment price easier to defend.

Have the repair history ready. The 2019 settlement is in the financial statements. Know what it covered before a buyer asks.

If you're considering 14 Hope Street, also evaluate:

• 147 Hope Street — a newer condominium with ground-floor retail on the same street, toward Union Avenue
• 80 Metropolitan Avenue — a 2008 condominium of the same vintage, closer to the waterfront
• 415 Leonard Street — a 2008 condominium at the northern edge of Williamsburg
• 125 North 10th Street — a 2007 Northside condominium with garage parking
• 88 Withers Street (Element 88) — a newer small condominium in northern Williamsburg
• 342 Wallabout Street — recent new construction in the Broadway Triangle section of South Williamsburg
• 65 Eckford Street — a recent small condominium near McCarren Park, where Greenpoint meets Williamsburg
• NV (101 North 5th Street) — a Northside condominium of the same era whose 421-a has already expired; the other side of the tax clock